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When I was in my 20’s I thought middle age began at 30, then again the average life expectancy of a male who was obese and smoked was 60 years if you were lucky in the early 1980’s, now with modern medicine, life expectancies for men like myself are in the mid 80’s. Realistically, if I can make it another 10 years or so, it may be 90-100. Of course that all depends on how you live the rest of your life! My dad had a premonition that he would die at age 52 like his father and his brother did. Thank god he was wrong, although he has had a couple of close calls, a triple bypass in 2004 and most recently a pulmonary embolism, at 84 he is still going strong!

On Sunday August 5, 2012 I will be 50 years old. Honestly, it really does not bother me and I really don’t want to make a big deal about it. I was a heck of a lot more stressed out on the approach of my 40th birthday! I guess it is all relative. One thing I can count on is, as I age, time seems to increase exponentially. Somehow the laws of physics get a little weird as you age. I was a child, a year seemed like FOREVER! Heck, even an hour could seem like an eternity, especially when it was the last hour of school on a Friday or the hours you sat in a car while driving to go on vacation. “Are we there yet dad?” Today, it feels like someone is speeding up the clock a little more every year till next thing you know, you feel like when you sneeze, an hour passes. It reminds me of a line in Pink Floyd’s song Time: “And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.”

This brings me to the subject of the title of the post. Since time is moving faster, I need to adapt my way of life accordingly and from here on out, my new motto in life is: “Life begins at 50!” After a half century of living, I want to live the rest of my life enjoying every minute and being thankful for all I have accomplished so far. No more worrying what I cannot control or wasting time on things that have little or no value. Instead, I want my life to bring value to all the people in my life that matter and even some of those who do not. J I have always been willing to help people in any way I can because I truly do care. Some have told me one of my biggest faults was caring too much. Honestly, I completely to disagree with that because the moment you stop caring is the moment you give up on the true meaning of life! For me, the problem in the world today is too many people don’t care about anyone but themselves. Now I think I have reached an age where I can change that, at least in my own small way.

So now I have explained my view of my life looking forward, I want anyone who feels like life has been passing them by to quickly to join me in making the most of the time we have left! ENJOY!!!!

Ray

FYI: August 5, 1962 (My birth date)

The day I was born the biggest new items were the death of Marilyn Monroe, the arrest or Nelson Mandela incitement & illegally leaving South Africa and the discover of the first quasar by radio signal. Famous people born the same day as me are Otis Thorpe, NBA forward (Vancouver Grizzlies, Detroit Pistons), Patrick Ewing, Kingston Jamaica, NBA center (NY Knicks/Olympic-gold-92) and William Roberts, NFL guard (NY Jets, NE Patriots). (Source: http://www.historyorb.com/date/1962/august/5).

One of my biggest idols of my life has been Albert Einstein. Not only was Albert the father of modern physics, devout pacifist, great humanitarian he also wrote some of my favorite quotes. I think the quote I treasure the most and I have made my personal signature is “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, Imagination encircles the world.” In my life I have known very knowledgeable people who had no imagination and to me that is a waste. In my mind, knowledge without imagination is like owning a nice sports car, but not being able to drive. Another one of my favorite Albert quotes is “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” To me, I have always strived for making things simple. Not because I am lazy, but it helps others to easily understand and reproduce my ideas or designs. There is no greater beauty in this universe than a simple and functional design or formula. How much simpler can you get than E=MC²!
As most of us know, if it were not for Albert’s work on the Theory of Relativity, much of what we know about physics today would have taken perhaps decades longer to achieve. Ask any physicist, what the world of physics would be without Albert’s work and imagination and they would most likely say that physics would be very boring. Albert’s methods of bringing things to their simplest terms made him so well respected within the physics community. Although Albert never had the aid of modern computers or even a calculator to do most of his work, the final product of his labor is still the de facto standard for physics for over 100 years.

As for Albert’s devout pacifism, he did write “I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.” Of course one thing Albert never really forgave himself for was telling President Roosevelt in 1939 that theoretically, using uranium to create a thermonuclear bomb could be possible, and that the USA should form a committee to investigate the theory, this suggestion was taken and would of course later become the Manhattan Project. Albert once wrote that it was his “single greatest mistake.” of his life was writing the first letter to Roosevelt. Albert later wrote “Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in producing an atomic bomb, I would not have lifted a finger.” Albert also wrote later “I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth—rocks!”

Few may know of Albert’s humanitarian efforts, but being a pacifist, in my mind, is as close to being a humanitarian as being a vegetarian is to being an animal lover. They kind of go hand in hand. Albert always spoke highly of Mahatma Gandhi and his ideas of peaceful protests. In the early 1930s Einstein recognized the threat that Hitler posed to Jews living in Germany and to himself in particular as a world-famous Jew. In 1932 Einstein left his country of birth never to return. Throughout the thirties Einstein was deluged with pleas for help from relatives and strangers desperate to flee fascism in Europe. Working against harsh immigration quotas imposed against Jews, Einstein wrote affidavits and enlisted the help of friends in assisting as many refugees as possible. By the end of the 1930s, Einstein had written so many affidavits that his signature on a document no longer carried any weight.

At the same time, Einstein was busy raising funds for organizations such as the United Jewish Appeal, and working toward securing a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which was realized in 1948 by the creation of the State of Israel. “. . . my relationship to the Jewish people has become my strongest human bond, ever since I became fully aware of our precarious situation among the nations of the world.” -Einstein in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, November 18, 1952. When Chaim Weizmann, the first President of Israel and an old friend of Einstein’s, died in 1952 Einstein was offered the Presidency. He regretfully declined, writing: “I am deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel, and at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it.” (Source Historical Society of Princeton)

For these and many other reasons, Albert has been recognized as one of the greatest individuals of 20th century. This is why from this day on; I intend to call March 14, “Albert Einstein Day”! Although I doubt it will ever become a true holiday, I have bought the domains www.alberteinsteinday.com and www.alberteinsteinday.net to begin a grass roots effort to make it one! Maybe someday my hope for an official Albert Einstein Day will come true. If not perhaps I can raise awareness into how truly great a man Albert Einstein was.